Time Before Talent
by Juusan13
Summary: The sons of Thranduil were inseparable when they were growing up. But once they started attending their formal royal lessons, and established their own niches int the kingdom of Greenwood the Great, they gradually fell apart. One of them wants to find out exactly why. Will he succeed? Or will he be stuck wondering what happened to their time before everything came apart?


A/N: Welcome to my second story! Officially, this is a prequel to my first story, "Advice", but this fic _can _(I repeat, **_CAN _**) stand alone. I would recommend that you read "Advice" before reading this, though. But reading this first before would also be fine. Heck, I'm still fine even if you would only read this and not bother to read "Advice"! Just as long as you read this.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar characters seen here or even the franchise. The idea is mine, though.

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Children's or rather, elfling's cries were constantly being heard, resounding in the walls; many would find it uncharacteristic for the somber looking palace, but it has been a common sound for the past hundred years or so. After all, one cannot simply take away the joy of childhood from three elflings; especially elflings with too much obligations and responsibilities when they grow up. No one would dare do so lest they risk the wrath of their father.

The Elvenking Thranduil made it clear to all that no one would prepare his children for their obligations until they reach five hundred years old. With the prodding of his wife and Queen Luineth, he stated that he wanted his sons to experience the innocence of childhood before all the stresses of becoming a royal would steal all of that. No elf in Greenwood the Great, however, expected their childhood to be ended a bit than expected, though not in the way anyone would think.

~Scene Break (or half a century later)~

"You cannot catch me, _muindor_!"

"_Huff, huff. _I know I will! Just wait and see!"

Two figures can be seen chasing each other in an otherwise empty hallway. If one were to spot the two however, they would only smile slightly and be amused at their antics. One thought that never crossed their minds was: Where is the third one? He would soon think back to that moment and regret for not noticing earlier.

_Splash!_

"Hee hee! Great aim, Legolas!" cried one of the elflings after having recovered from doubling over in the ground laughing.

"Come on, Berensul," the elf holding a now empty bucket of water identified as Legolas said. "You and Celethuil are also to credit for this. The both of you were doing such a great job of distracting him."

Today, their victim was an unfortunate guard who was supposed to be patrolling the palace halls. The current state of said palace guard was miserable; dripping wet in fact. But before he would be able to get over the shock of being 'ambushed', the three sons of the Elvenking dashed away; leaving the soaked and confused guard behind alone.

Now at a significant distance away from the guard, the three princes decided it was safe and came to a stop behind a stairwell.

"_Huff, huff._ We are in so much trouble!" exclaimed Legolas. "_Nana _is going to be furious!"

Berensul scoffed, "_Nana _never gets mad at us!"

Celethuil groaned, "Come now, you two. _Nana _would not get mad at us, but that doesn't mean we would get off without being punished. _Nana _is fair with us you know." Celethuil sighed, but then covered it up suddenly with a smirk, "But, did you see the look on the guards face when we caught him off guard?"

The unexpected reminder of that hilarious memory almost sent the two princes on the ground laughing. Alas, eventually, their laughter gave them away as half of the servants of the palace were looking for them. Soon enough, they were lead to the throne room where both of their parents were waiting.

_Gulp_

Now, the three elven princes were nervously sweating not under the stone face of their father, but rather (quite surprisingly for those unused to the methods of discipline of the royal couple) the disapproving look of their mother who was at his right hand side.

To much of their relief, however, the first to speak was their father.

"Now, your mother the Queen has told me that the three of you disrupted a guard's rounds in the palace," he began. "Is this true?"

Celethuil stepped forward naturally as the eldest, "Yes, _ada."_

His two younger brothers nodded meekly in agreement.

The Elvenking sighed as if he was impatient, wanting this lecture to be over with. After seemingly contemplating for a few minutes, he rubbed his temples and spoke, "It is good to know that the three of you are learning to act more mature, but that still does not excuse the fact that you caused damage and disrupted mandatory security measures."

He looked at each of them for a time, making sure that this would be the last time he would be reminding them of this. "Did it cross your minds when you were planning this _prank _that you may have in the worst situation ensured a breech in palace security and in the least tarnished perfectly good armor?"

None of the three had anything to say against this. All the while, their mother was looking at them disapprovingly.

The Elvenking looked at the Queen, "Is that all you wanted me to say to them, dear?"

The Queen replied smoothly, "You have not told them of their punishment yet, my dear."

Thranduil had a mildly surprised look on his face, "Ah, yes. I seem to have forgotten that." He turned to face his sons, "I have decided that the three of you would spend the next fortnight helping the servants clean and maintain the armory. I must say, it is quite fitting since the guard's armor you ruined would need replacing soon." He then faced his wife, "Would that suffice?"

"Yes, my dear, yes it would," Luineth assured. "But, from the three of you, I will require you to formally apologize to that poor guard that you victimized."

The three princes immediately looked guilty. "Yes, _nana,_" said Legolas, who looked the most affected of the three. "We will apologize to the guard as soon as we are dismissed."

Their father cut the exchange, "Before that I would like to speak to the three of you alone. Would you mind, dear?"

With silent agreement, the Queen Luineth left the throne room. Thranduil also gestured for the surrounding guards to leave them alone. Once they were, Berensul, who had been silent since they have entered spoke up, "I – I am sorry _ada, _I am the one who planned everything! I did not want to say anything to _nana _since I did not want to disappoint her –"

He was cut off by his father, "No need for that, _ion-nin_. I am sure your mother knows that and has already forgiven you, Legolas, and Celethuil. She wouldn't want to show that lest she smother and spoil you. Your mother has good intentions in raising the three of you."

The three of them nodded, already knowing this from other punishments they have faced before. What they did not prepare for, however, was the fact that their father will impart valuable information to them.

"Now, I am very sure you all are wondering why there is such dire need to speak to you alone," he stated. "Have any of you wondered why I have not required you to attend formal royal lessons until your 500th years? No? Well, it is time for me to explain why: individuals such as you, immortal elves who are heirs to a crown, should have little time for childish nonsense; too many duties to prepare for in the future. Royals from the race of men have very little time at all to enjoy the innocence of childhood, though I do not think some of them actually even _have _a childhood. The race of the dwarves have a longer time, around two decades, but not nearly enough as other dwarven children. You, my sons, are lucky to be of the race of the elves, who have seemingly unlimited time. You are lucky to not worry about the evils of the world for a while, but the time will come. Celethuil, you have half a century or less left to enjoy this; Legolas, a century and a half; Berensul, three and a half. I hope you do well with this information. I would not like if the time that I and your mother gave to you be wasted."

~Scene Break~

The time then came.

No one in the kingdom of Greenwood the Great looked forward to the day after the 500th year of their crown prince. No one wanted all the responsibilities being piled on his shoulders afterwards. Everyone knew that this was inevitable, but the ones who took it the most were his two brothers. This was the first time that their older brother would not spend all his free time with them; they were always his first priority. Of course the three had basic lessons in writing and philosophy before; this is just the start of the lessons that would prepare them for politics, economy, and battle.

The one among the three main subjects that would take the most time would be battle as it encompasses great battles in history, war strategy, and weapons training. This would be the subject that more people would actually look into, to see if he was capable of leading them and setting an example for his subjects.

~Scene Break~

The first few moons after Celethuil's 500th year were tense at the least. They wanted to see if he could handle the new lessons and be the same elf that he was.

To the relief of many, it seemed like nothing even changed. The only difference was the time he spent with his brothers. One may even say that he was even more jubilant than before; he was always the joker of the three princes. If needed, he was also the mediator whenever Legolas and Berensul disagreed. Other than those situations, the brothers were inseparable.

Yet, as time passed, Celethuil had less and less time to spend with his brothers; most especially when they discovered his prowess with the sword.

It is known in Greenwood the Great that the Elvenking Thranduil preferred the sword rather than the usual elven weapon, the bow, as well as being very capable of wielding it. But when his heir seemingly inherited that, even if he wouldn't show it physically, his aura was radiating pride. His wife on the other hand, Queen Luineth, was more affectionate in showing her joy at Celethuil's talent. Legolas and Berensul were ecstatic; they did not foresee that Celethuil's talent would decrease their already limited time together with his practices and such.

Around a century later, when Legolas would also reach his 500th year, the brothers have devised a schedule to spend with each other so nothing really changed. Legolas' schedule almost lined up with Celethuil and the three did not have much trouble incorporating it into the schedule.

When Legolas' lessons started, he was under some pressure to do as well as his brother, who performed a little above average more than expected. At first the pressure messed with his concentration, but after a few moons, his performance level was exceeding the expectations given to him. Unlike the care-free and laid back Celethuil, Legolas was more serious in his lessons, as if seeking to prove something. He did, however, make sure to Celethuil that he did not want to best him, rather he wanted to be proven worthy to their parents, so Legolas did not want Celethuil to take his performance personally.

One of the largest expectation Legolas should live up to was the fact that his father and brother were excellent swordsmen. Given his performance in his lessons, he was under a lot of pressure to perform just as well. Unfortunately, he was only an average swordsman, something most were disappointed to learn, though he compensated for it with the discovery of his talent with the bow. Legolas showed a lot of potential in the art most elves are adept with, and so he had a lot more 'competition' in proving his worth to his parents.

By the time Berensul turned 500, around two centuries later, both of his brothers carved their own niches in Greenwood, therefore he was under even more pressure to be as good as them. As time went on after Berensul started his lessons, it was evident that Berensul was the 'jack-of-all-trades', seemingly performing above average in all his subjects and lessons without having an 'affinity' to anything specific. Though, he showed much more interest in botanical subjects than political ones, having an eidetic memory for certain herbs, plants, their properties, applications, etc.

Among the three brothers, Berensul was the most extroverted, having the most civilian friends; Celethuil coming at a distant second and Legolas with the least. There was something about Berensul that was easy to make friends with, so among the princes, he was the most known to the younger masses, even if he was the least spectacularly performing among the three.

Decades passed and though the three remained close, one can see their previously inseparable bond very slowly breaking. No one really thought why, they only assumed that brothers really grow more and more distant as time passes by.

One, however, wanted to determine exactly the reason why.

~Scene Break (Legolas' POV around a century later)~

Legolas Thranduilion was certainly the most inquisitive between the brothers. Every time something catches his interest, he observes it for a while, figuring out how exactly it worked. If he could not figure it out, he would inquire to sometimes many people just to satisfy his curiosity. Currently holding his interest right now was the fact that he and his brothers do not have fun like they used to during their earlier years. Legolas was not dense, he could see that he and his brothers had many differences; Celethuil was the 'light', the joking all the time; Legolas was the 'foundation', most of the time serious, keeping calm in stressful situations; Berensul was the 'clay', not really having purpose yet, but can be shaped into anything and remolded to something else if needed.

Legolas also knows that differences do not matter in friendships, anyone could be friends with each other, but how could the three of them grow separate when they were inseparable then?

Legolas thought deeply about it for the next few days, breezing through his lessons and practices, only concentrating on the question that plagued his mind. After almost a fortnight later, he seemed to figure it out! Yes! That _was _the reason why he and his brothers grew distant. Why did he not see this before? Yes, the reason was –.

"Legolas?"

The sudden calling of his name interrupted his thoughts. He looked up to see his mother standing at the doorway of his chambers.

"_N-Naneth_! Do you need anything from me?"

His mother sighed, "Legolas, how many times do I have to tell you to call me _Nana_, again? You sound so formal these last few decades. I miss my affectionate little Greenleaf."

He grinned sheepishly, "I am sorry, _Nane –,_" he stopped himself remembering her request. "I mean, _nana._ I just came from Diplomacy lessons."

The Queen sighed again, "I guess that would have to do." She frowned, as if trying to remember something that she was about to say.

Legolas helped her a bit, "Um, _nana, _what did you come here for?"

Her eyes brightened as if she remembered, "Ah, yes. Thank you for reminding me." She walked toward the bed Legolas was sitting on as her face suddenly took on a frown, "I am worried about you, _ion-nin_. You are thinking about something again, are you not?"

When Legolas nodded in confirmation, he also sent her a look that said, _'Why are you asking me this?'_ The Queen just continued her questioning, "This is something that troubles you deeply. You have been thinking for about two weeks now. Normally you would have asked someone else for ideas at the third day, so I assume this is a more personal and private matter."

The surprised look on Legolas' face only confirmed her assumption, so Queen Luineth gave him a glance asking for an explanation.

Legolas sighed. His mother _really_ knew what he was thinking. How does she _do _that all the time? Was it her 'mother's intuition'? He knew he had to tell her about it, maybe she could even offer him advice.

"_Nane-," _he stopped himself, "I mean, _nana, _have you noticed in the past few decades, maybe about sixty winters ago, that Celethuil, Berensul, and I have been growing a little more distant as time goes by?"

Luineth looked thoughtful, "Hmmm, yes, you do seem that way but what part of that bothered you for so long? What is taking you so long to think of an answer?"

Legolas was hesitant to answer, "Um, well, _nana, _I was just wondering exactly _why _we grew apart. Everyone expected us to grow apart when all of us started our lessons, yet we did not, it was as if nothing changed. We only grew apart a few decades after Berensul started taking lessons. The reason for taking so long to think is because I was reviewing the times we spent time with each other since I started noticing the distancing, probably even times before that to make sure." He drew in a deep breath, "I also think that I have found the answer."

His mother looked pleased to hear that he finally found his answer, "It is good that you found it, _ion-nin. _This question of yours also seems to pique my curiosity. Care to share what you think the answer is?"

Legolas knew this was coming. He saw through his mother's visit earlier and had been mentally preparing the explanation he was about to give her.

"It is very evident that there are few things that I and my brothers share, not only in terms of skills, but also our personalities, traits, outlooks, perspective. This alone would not have been the reason for the distancing; there are other factors that contribute to the problem. The main factor is the fact that we are members of the royal family of Greenwood the Great. As members of the royal family, we are under constant scrutiny to perform well and become examples to the general populace as we are training to be their future rulers. This fact alone adds tremendous pressure to our shoulders. When we started our formal lessons, our true talents and potential showed through, when those were determined, our lessons took different turns, adjusting to our abilities to maximize everything.

"Celethuil starting his lessons started this chain reaction of events that would lead the three of us to unconsciously distance each other. After the first few moons when I started my formal lessons, I started outperforming Celethuil. Even though no one really acknowledged it aloud, it was quite evident. On the surface, he knows he is proud of me for doing so well, but subconsciously, he started feeling more and more inferior which may explain his lack of self-esteem wherein he compensates it with his care-free and jolly attitude.

"Before I started my lessons, it was apparent that everyone had high expectations for me in swordsmanship due to Celethuil's stellar performance in that area. I reacted to it by wanting to prove myself and worked to exceed those expectations, the only area where I failed was in swordsmanship itself. After I failed to do that, I looked for another area where I can excel and I found it in archery; the only problem with archery is that most elves are more than adept at archery and being part of the royal family, I am expected to become an example for my fellow warriors so keeping up was especially difficult.

"Berensul on the other hand had a lot of time to mentally prepare himself before starting the lessons. Since Celethuil and I already proven ourselves to the kingdom, Berensul was under even more pressure to perform well. His reaction to that was to try and be good, though not great, in everything. Naturally that would be easily achievable, but that gave the impression that he did not have a specific 'affinity'. He was looked down on for that but compensated it with his relations with many elves. _Nana, _you know that Berensul has the most friends between the three of us, right?

"Now, you might wonder how all of these are connected and how exactly it strained the relationship between us brothers. Celethuil's subconscious inferiority to me has hindered things between us no matter how many times I tell him that he is a great elf in his own way. That however has made him a little bit closer to Berensul than me, but the significant amount of friends Berensul has also added to his feeling of inferiority as he has only a small (but tight-knit) band of friends.

"My relationship is strained with Celethuil because back then before I realized too late, my performance in the lessons steadily pushing him away; though when I realized it, I could not just stop performing at my previous level to repair the relationship with Celethuil. That would disappoint you and _adar. _I only would have to be satisfied with the fact that we would be brothers who are friends but not as close as we used to be. My relationship with Berensul on the other hand, was constrained even when we were children. When my prowess in the lessons showed and his talent at seemingly everything was subconsciously compared, he started becoming more distant towards me. Sort of like my situation with Celethuil but we never really _that _close to begin with. That never really stopped me from loving the both of them, though.

"Berensul is harder to explain; from what I had observed, he distances himself from me and Celethuil since he is the jack-of-all-trades while we have our specialties: Celethuil in swordsmanship and myself in archery. Due to his constrained relationship with the both of us, he does not invest that much time and allows him to branch out into other types of friends which may explain why he is the most social out of all of us. I also assume that he feels a lesser degree of inferiority compared to Celethuil due to his lack of specialty; I think that would change soon enough. I have this gut feeling that he still has yet to show his real potential. His opportunity will come soon enough."

Legolas breathed in from that long explanation he gave. He was observing his mother while doing so; she was listening curiously sometimes tilting her head as if contemplating the information that he stated. He was nervous of course. Legolas never talked to his mother like this as he had unconsciously slipped into his 'diplomatic' phase early on. One of his main weaknesses: stopping himself from going too far. He wondered what his mother thought of that, if she thought the same as well.

After what seemed like forever, the Queen spoke. "Well," she began. "For a while I thought you were in a major meeting relaying a report to your father."

Legolas hung his head down; even she knew that it was hard for him to stop himself whenever he gets excited or too eager. He predicted that initial reaction from his mother, but she continued to speak, breaking his line of thoughts.

"Yet I cannot help but be confused when it seems that he is talking in front of me," she stated casually.

That statement was unexpected. He was quite surprised when he heard that, he reminded his mother of his _father_? His line of thought was once again disrupted by his mother.

Luineth sighed, "Legolas, you remind me so much of your father that sometimes, it scares me. You two are alike in more ways than you might think. Though most who come across you might say that you take after me in physical aspects, most of your personality, traits, even mannerisms, are all your father's, he is just too proud to show it. Enough talking about your similarities with your father, I am assuming that you would want to know what I thought about all of which you said."

"Ah, well, yes. I would really like to know how you truthfully feel about that. I would not mind if you take it negatively," he nervously replied.

His mother waved away his concern, "Come now, Legolas. I would not think negatively about that. I actually think that is an unbiased observation that could have been from a neutral outsider's perspective, but no, that was from one of the participants himself. I am impressed Legolas. I have also agreed on some of what you said. Not only have you included the factors of causing the rift between you and your brothers, you have also explained how each and every one of you reacted and equally contributed to it." She sighed, "My little Greanleaf is growing older and wiser. How I wish you were still the elfling that asked about every little detail. Now, you are figuring out the answer yourself."

The Queen looked wistfully at the box that stored Legolas' childhood toys; reminiscing about the times centuries ago. Her eyes softened when she looked back at Legolas. It looks as if she had one more question to ask him.

"Legolas," she inquired, "What is your final conclusion to your issue?"

Legolas did not expect that question. He had never really given much thought to the 'final and absolute' answer. He thought carefully and spoke slowly, unsure of his words. "I think that the true cause between the distancing of me and my brothers was our individuality and diversity. The traits otherwise would make us a very balanced and equal group of persons are driving us apart. We are too different; we have little things to relate with each other. In short, our talents are the root cause of all of this."

"Very good, _ion-nin_," Luineth acknowledged. "You know, I cannot help but remember the bond between you and your brothers in the time before your talents settled in. I know that each of you love each other deeply. Your characters, traits, and talents are just not exactly compatible with one another. None of you could help it, this is who you are. I knew from the very start that the three of you would diverge in your own individual paths. You only need to remember, remember the times you spent with your brothers when you were the best of friends."

"How right you are, _nana,_" Legolas agreed. "I could not have said it any better."

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A/N: And cut! Thank you for reading this. Just a note for those that haven't read "Advice" yet: this fic is almost twice as long as "Advice". You might be surprised by how short it is compared to this. Please leave a review/comment. Even flames are acceptable as long as you tell my why this sucks. :P

Anyway, constructive critiques are welcome! This fic isn't my best work, so leave a review if you think this seems a little bit rushed or inconsistent or doesn't make any sense. I would be more than happy to revise this.

Translations:

_Adar/Ada _- Father/Dad

_Naneth/Nana_ - Mother/Mom

_Muindo__r _- Brother

_Ion-nin _- My son

Added clarifications:

~This fic came drew its inspiration from a suggestion from a reviewer, so if you would like to see more of these characters in some other type of story, feel free to suggest. (Shoutout to paperfirefly for your ideas!)

~There are a lot of time skips in this fic so some readers might be confused. I'll relay it in a condensed version here along with their approximate ages

Beginning of story: Celethuil (400), Legolas (300), and Berensul (100) are playing in the Elvenking's palace

Next Time skip: Celethuil (450), Legolas (350), and Berensul (150) play a prank and earn a life lesson from their father.

50 years later: Celethuil starts his formal training.

100 years later: Legolas starts his formal training.

200 years later: Berensul starts his formal training.

40 years later: Legolas (740) starts noticing that the brothers are drifting apart but doesn't think much of it.

End of story: Legolas (800) gets really worries about the distancing between brothers and starts to act upon it.

~Long A/N is long. Sorry for that.


End file.
